From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday denied bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the cases related to Delhi excise policy scam.
He has been in jail since February 26 this year in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam case. He is being probed by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti pronounced the order stating that the bail is rejected as “in the analysis there are certain aspects which are doubtful and the tansfer of Rs 338 crore is established.” It said he can approach the apex court if the trial proceeds sloppily in the next six months.
The scam involves allegations that Delhi government officials had connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes. The accused officials are alleged to have tweaked the excise policy to benefit certain liquor sellers.
The Delhi High Court had earlier denied bail to Sisodia in the cases against him by the two central agencies, prompting the AAP leader to move the Supreme Court for relief.
During the course of the hearings, the bench had told the ED that a predicate offence has to pre-date the offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the ED cannot create a predicate offence.
The CBI and the ED had earlier told the Supreme Court that they were thinking of adding AAP as an accused in the matter.
The bench had sought to know from the CBI and ED whether there was any evidence of bribery that could implicate Manish Sisodia in the alleged scam.
It had remarked that merely because lobby groups or pressure groups had called for a certain policy shift, that would not by itself imply that corruption or a crime has taken place unless there is an element of bribery involved.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the CBI and the ED. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Manish Sisodia.
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